Women in the country are set to benefit from the project initiated by a Dar es Salaam based company to unlock business opportunities in the transport sector hence improve the livelihood of the group.

Dubbed “Women on Wheels”, the project targets women and girls across the country who will undergo special training on commercial driving and qualified participants will access loans from banks for purchasing their own motor vehicles.

The Executive Director of Africa International, the company responsible for overseeing the project, Mr Martine Gabone, told journalists yesterday that his company will act as a guarantor for all women who will be provided with loans to purchase vehicles for transport business.

Mr Gabone said that registration of women interested to participate in the training is underway at the company’s office, calling upon them to turn up in big number to take part in the project. He said the project aimed at creating friendly environment for women and girls to participate fully in the country’s economy as commercial drivers.

“This project has been introduced so as to collaborate with government leaders from village , ward, district regional and national levels in order to reach more women so that they can contribute to the country’s economy through transport sector,” he said.

He noted that the training will be offered in collaboration with Traffic Police unit and the Surface and Marine Transport Authority (SUMATRA). Mr Gabone said that the aim of the project is to empower women with driving skills to be competent in the sector and join the government efforts in to reducing traffic accidents.

” This project also involve financial institutions and banks to ensure that the participants of the training will have access to financial services,” he said. The project Consultant, Dr Richard Kavura, said that the company is well prepared to ensure that it reached many women in the country by increasing the number of women engaging in transporting people to address the gender gap in the sector.

He added, according to research findings a number of women drivers driving private vehicles is bigger and they respect traffic regulations thus being in a good position to minimise road accidents.

Mr Kavura added that the project is also part of the implementation of international treaties which require the country to promote gender equality in education and employment.